Tag Archives: Pending Home Sales Index

Potential homeowners are feeling more confident about their financial situation and are turning out in large numbers, but find they are challenged by supply, higher sales prices, and rising interest rates.

Will the upcoming Employment Situation report be the last piece of the puzzle the Fed needs in determining whether to increase the federal funds target rate in September?

The drop in the pending sales measure came in the same month that the association reported a dip in existing home sales. According to NAR, sales of existing homes in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million, down 1.8 percent from July.

“Ongoing disruptive weather patterns in much of the U.S. inhibited home shopping,” said National Association of Realtor’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun. The analysis came in the wake of the release of NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index, noting pending sales edged up .1 percent to 95 last month. Compared to January 2013, pending sales were down 9.0 percent.